It's All About Iran

I’ve said again and again that if you want to understand what the United States is doing fumbling around in Iraq, the answer is “Iran.”

As a world power the United States does not intend to allow another power to dominate the Middle East and its oil.

There will come a time when the Middle East and its oil will not be worth a pitcher of warm spit, but that time is not yet.

And so the United States has deployed its armed forces to prevent Iran from achieving its strategic aim: to destroy Israel and dominate the Middle East. Here is what Amir Taheri has to say, reviewing a book by former Iranian President Rafsanjani.

Rafsanjani seems to be planning to get control of the Iranian Assembly of Experts.

[H]e hopes to lead an anti-Ahmadinejad coalition in next December's elections for the Assembly of Experts - the body that can choose or dismiss the "Supreme Guide," the Islamic Republic's true leader.

Nobody would care about elections in a fairly poor nation of 60 million in the Middle East except for two things.

The first is that the Islamic Republic has had a secret nuclear program for almost two decades while taking the International Atomic Energy Agency for a ride. The second is that the leaders of the Islamic Republic - who felt no discomfort in discussing the use of nuclear warheads and other weapons of mass destruction two decades ago - don't seem to have abandoned their strategy for reshaping the Middle East.

And that is why the United States will be in a convenient strategic position if its troops are in Iraq when Iran goes nuclear. It makes it rather difficult for Iran to rumble across Mesopotamia and the Arabian desert and take control.